Call it a personal prejudice if you must, but certain fairer-complexioned blues guitarists rarely hold the allure of their more mocha-skinned counterparts in my personal (and admittedly persnickety) hierarchy. Sure, there are exceptions: Keith Richards and Lonnie Mack can both ace bonafide licks with the best on either side of the imaginary (& superfluous) color line. But the list of laggards is longer (Eric Clapton, John Mayall, George Thoroughgood, even Stevie Ray Vaughn- blasphemy, I know). Mulling hard about it I think it has to do with what my ears greet as substance over flash, verity over technique. Guys like Jeff Healey have chops to waste, but I always hear something glaringly missing in their canned stabs at the idiom. Mike Bloomfield fits in this category too. A recent Fantasy reissue of two his Kicking Mule platters from the 70s illustrates why.
The prolix-titled If You Love These Blues, Play ‘Em As You Please dates from 1976. Originally designed as an instructional album for Guitar Player magazine, it’s basically a survey disc with Bloomfield playing the part of tour barker and master blues mixologist. A bulging crew of session men on reeds, keys, strings and percussion assist him across a 22-tune itinerary. His own arsenal includes acoustic and electric guitars of various shapes and tunings, coupled with banjo, piano, organ and bass. The aural trip attempts to trace every tributary from the barrelhouse style stomp of Leroy Carr and Scrapper Blackwell to the urbane jump revelry of T-Bone Walker. Blind Blake, Howlin’ Wolf, Tampa Red, John Lee and Earl Hooker, Jim Jackson and a host of other elders also receive their share of flattery through imitation.
Bloomfield nails every vernacular nearly to a “T”, but there’s something intrinsic lost in his sanguine translations. The music is entertaining, but much of it reflects a slick sheen of studio production and a laconic ease in execution that bleeds out any sense of pain or desperation. Bloomfield’s spoken intros also quickly wear out their welcome, reciting the dry specs on gear and tune taxonomy. The experience reminded me of what it might be like shelling out and signing on for the Harry Connick, Jr. Nawlins Whiste-Stop Jazz Tour. It carries that same sort of commodified Cliff’s Notes flavor.
Bloomfield/Harris, captured on the disc’s final eight cuts, dates from three years later and offers a better proposition than its companion. Joining his colleague Woody Harris’s acoustic frets, Bloomfield clams up and let’s the music do the talking. Here he switches between acoustic and electric slide depending upon the tune, all of which are gospel-related in origin. The contemplative cast to the conversations harbors a much more personalized stamp. Highlights include a shimmering version of “Gonna Need Somebody On My Bond,” and a tranquil reading of “Great Dreams of Heaven” that threads in elements of both Spence and Fahey through a finely-crafted Harris solo.
Bloomfield’s work here hasn’t swayed my opinion. Like a stubborn and loutish musical segregationist I still clench tightly to my biases. His albums are convivial diversions, but when the blues bug bites it’s the Bukka White and Fred McDowell that my fingers go reaching for.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on December 16, 2004 8:27 PMWatch yourself Derek. Somewhere a Blues Project/Butterfield jihadi is about to declare a fatwa on you.
Posted by: Captain Hate at December 17, 2004 2:59 PMThis is actually my half-assed stab at an Adam Hill style op/ed piece :)
But bring on the Butterfield terroristas. I've got my Kid Thomas and Jerry McCain rekkids lined up to blow back any assault.
Posted by: derek at December 18, 2004 11:52 AMMe first- b. 1943, played professionally for 21 yrs, grew up w/ r&b (Real r&b) & all blues forms.
I agree with ya on some things: Lonnie Mack was great- both as a singer & guitarist. What an original style!!
But to put Lonnie, Bloomer, Earl Hooker, et al, on the same page w/ Keith Richards name makes me shake my balding head. Keith is a true white boy wannabee, & is a foreign white boy wannabee to boot!! DAMN!!
Far as Michael- I was a acquaintance, not a close friend- He has recorded some shit- if he were alive, he would be one of the first to admit- but, unlike many of us, he wasn't after fame and fortune- he didn't have to be. Born into a very wealthy family, he never had to worry about where the next dime was coming from, probably to his downfall. He was in it for the music.
Unfortunately, he also was about 5 million miles from being normal, and his judgement on some of his released recordings was "impaired".
However, put he, like Lonnie, in a lineup with 20 or 30 other "blues" guitarists, & you can pick him out every time.
This album is more of a tribute to the guys he learned from and knew, and is a piece of education intended for the new guitarists that think blues originated with Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, or Cream, for chrissakes.
Also- are you mistaking "ease of execution" and a"sense of pain of desperation" for plain old lack of chops & dexterity?
You pick cotton or work in a steel mill for a day & try to play a guitar that nite!!! Please don't misconstrue flawed technique for emotion- may be plain ole' arthritis-
Other than that, I enjoyed the article
Fred, thanks for the comments & for taking me to task. I’d be inclined to agree with you re: Keith except for four crucial & decisive words: EXILE ON MAIN STREET. That platter alone gives him blues cred in my (admittedly tattered & soiled) chapbook. Sure it’s a different breed of blues, the burnt-out-junkie-in-the-basement kind, but it’s there just the same.
Good point too on flawed technique as a misnomer for emotion. There are plenty of guys (& gals) who got by on flair and legerdemain over chops (crosshairs are hovering on a couple in the Fat Possum stable). But then there are dudes like Cedell Davis who to the typical Susan Tedeschi fan might seem like they can’t play for shit. A claim that certainly doesn’t hold whiskey after a close and conscientious listen.
As for Bloomfield, I’m just going on what I’ve heard over the years. In this particular case I definitely prefer the duo set with Harris to the Blues 101 session, but it still feels kinda canned. I like to hear blues players work for it & instead got the impression that he was coasting. But your personal perspective on the man is much appreciated. It’d be cool to learn more about your own activities in the idiom too.
All this makes me mindful of that scene in the film in GHOST WORLD where Steve Buscemi’s character (a guy most of us can probably painfully relate to on some level) shows up at the sports bar (vintage vinyl in hand & ready for autographing) to see a concert where an aged Mississippi John Hurt-styled acoustic blues guitarist is opening for a garage band of twentysomething white guys. He’s already indignant about his hero’s demeaning slot as opener & suffers through the set shouldering & wincing at every perceived insult conveyed in the rampant audience chatter, TV noise, spilled drinks and general apathy toward the music. Even more egregious injury to his sensibilities ensues when the headliners take the stage and start slinging bombastic ‘blues’ tripe that would make George Thoroughgood cringe, much to the crowd’s raucous delight. Funny, funny stuff.
Or the gotta-get-my-blood-recycled blooze.
The "typical Susan Tedeschi fan" is pretty funny.
I'm just grateful to know a few other people that are even *more* like the Steve Buscemi character than I am.
Posted by: Captain Hate at January 14, 2005 8:33 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................